Track for toy railways or the like



Aug. 26, 1969 A. FISCHER 3,463,393

TRACK FOR TOY RAILWAYS OR THE LIKE Filed Dec. 27, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

ARTUR FISCHER g 1969 A. FISCHER 3,463,393

TRACK FOR TOY RAILWAYS OR THE LIKE Filed D80. 27, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 2O Fi 8 18' 18 20 20b 19 1 9- g0 r 1 l g I 20c 1% 1:: 19 so 20am 16 Fig 9 6 Q3 16 515-1-1 21 gel IN V EN TOR.

ARTUR FISCHER BY MW Jfmw 7 6, 1969 A. FISCHER 3,463,393

TRACK FOR TOY RAILWAYS OR THE LIKE Filed Dec. 27, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet $5 Fig. 14

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INVENTOR.

ARTUR FISCHER BY United States Patent 3,463,393 TRACK FOR TOY RAILWAYS OR THE LlKE Artur Fischer, 133 Gruenmettstetterstr, 7241 Tumlingen, Germany Filed Dec. 27, 1966, Ser. No. 604,819 Claims priority, application Germany, Jan. 19, 1966, F 48,201; Feb. 3, 1966, F 48,332 Int. Cl. E01b 23/00 US. Cl, 238-40 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A track for toy railways or other types of miniature conveyances. Comprises two or more parallel H-shaped rails each having a flat web and two wheel-supporting heads extending along the edges of the web. The web has openings to receive coupling members of building blocks which are used as cross ties, either singly or in end-to-end arrangement.

One or both heads of a rail may consist of two current-conducting portions and a separator of insulating material therebetween. Building blocks may be used as stilleners between the cross ties, as supports for overhead conductors, and/or as supports for the track.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Building blocks and coupling members of the type suitable for use in the track of the present invention are disclosed in several of my copending applications. Reference may be had, for example, to applications Ser. Nos. 492,646 (filed Oct. 4, 1965, for Assembly Kit), 501,676 (filed Oct. 22, 1965, for Coupling Means) and now abandoned, 514,165 (filed Nov. 8, 1965, for Assembly Kit), 530,063 (filed Feb. 25, 1966, for Assembly Kit), 545,025 (filed Apr. 25, 1966, for Structural Element), and 553,845 (filed May 31, 1966, for Building Block).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to toy devices in general, and more particularly to improvements in the construction and assembly of rails, tracks and other auxiliary equipment necessary for supporting, guiding, powering and/or operating toy railways, cranes, trolleys, elevators conveyors and like conveyances which are arranged to travel along one or more rails.

It is an important object of my invention to provide a novel and improved rail and a novel track which embodies one or more improved rails for use in erector kits for children, especially in erector kits whose components may be assembled into trains, elevators, conveyors, trolleys, monorail trains and like playthings which may but need not be powered by electric current.

Another object of the invention is to provide a versatile rail which can be put to a large number of widely different uses and which can be readily assembled with one or more additional rails and other structural elements into a practically limitless number of different playthings.

A further object of the invention is to provide a track which utilizes one or more rails of the above outlined character and which can be assembled and/or taken apart without necessitating the utilization of any tools.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a track which consists of exceptionally simple, rugged and lightweight components, which can be washed, reused as often as desired and dropped, deformed or subjected to other for-ms of rough handling by children, teenagers and even by adults.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide a track which comprises one or more rigid, flexible, current conducting, insulating, straight or arcuate rails and which 3,463,393 Patented Aug. 26, 1969 ice SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a track for toy railways or the like. The track comprises a pair of spaced substantially H-shaped rails each including an elongated web and heads extending lengthwise along the edges of the web. Each web is provided with specially configu'nated openings which are spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of therespective rail, and the track further comprises cross ties or, tie rods extending transversely between and connecting the webs to each other. Such cross ties or tie rods comprise suitable coupling members which extend into and through the openings of the adjoining webs.

Each rail of the track may be used individually, for example, to guide the cage of a toy elevator or the wheels orrollers of an overhead trolley or crane. Also, each head of-th'e rail may comprise portions of current-conducting material located at the opposite sides of a separator of insulating material. Such rails or their heads may be used to conduct current to the motors of toy locomotives, to signal lights of a toy railway system, and/or to other types of current-consuming units in a toy device The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The improved track itself, however, both as to its construction and the mode of assembling and utilizing the same, together with additional features and advantages thereof, will be best understood upon perusal of the following detailed description of certain specific embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawmg.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING track which comprises two rails of the type shown in FIG. 1 and two composite cross ties;

FIG. 3 is a transverse vertical section through the track as viewed in the direction of arrows from the line III-III of FIG. 2, further showing by solid lines a first wheel assembly which is supported by the upper heads of rails and by broken lines a second wheel assembly which can travel along the lower heads of the rails;

FIG. 4 is an end el-evational view of a single rail which is supported in a position to guide an elevator cage or a like toy conveyance;

FIG. 5 illustrates in top plan view an arcuate section of a track which includes rails similar to that shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a single rail forming part of an overhead conveyor track and supporting a trolley whose wheels travel along the lower head of the rail;

FIG. 7 is a transverse vertical section through the rail and trolley of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of two modified track sections which are placed end-to-end;

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the junction between the track sections of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary perspective view of a further rail which can be utilized to conduct electric current;

FIG. 11 is a transverse vertical section as seen in the direction of arrows from the line XI-XI of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary top plan view of a track which comprises a third rail assembled of rail sections of the type shown in FIGS. 10 and 11;

FIG. 13 is a transverse vertical section through a track utilizing rails of the type shown in FIG. 8, and further showing a support for overhead conductor wires; and

FIG. 14 is a top plan view of a switch which may utilize rails of the type shown in FIGS. 1 to 13.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. 1, the numeral 1 denotes one rail of a track for toy railways which embodies one form of my invention. The rail 1 preferably consists of wearresistant synthetic plastic material which is flexible, wash able, resistant to breakage and nontoxic. It comprises an elongated fiat plate-like web 2 and two elongated heads or beads 3, 3' which extend lengthwise along the edges of the web 2. The cross-sectional outline of the rail 1 re sembles a double-headed arrow and the web 2 is provided with at least two openings 4 which are spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the rail. Each of these openings has a first portion or section 4a of greater width x and a second portion or section 4b of lesser width y, as seen in a direction transversely of the web 2. The length of the second section 411 preferably exceeds its width, and the same holds true for the first section 4a. The openings 4 are preferably located exactly midway between the heads 3, 3 and their sections 4b may but not need extend in opposite directions, i.e., toward the respective ends of the rail 1.

The heads 3, 3 are preferably of substantially triangular cross-sectional outline and each thereof comprises a preferably convex wheel-supporting or guiding face 3a (see FIG. 3) bounding that portion of the head which is remotest from the web, and two lateral faces 31), 30 (see FIG. 7) which are adjacent to the opposite sides of the web 2 and are normal or substantially normal to the central symmetry plane of the web, such central symmetry plane being also the central symmetry plane of the entire rail 1.

A section or unit length of an assembled track is illustrated in FIG. 2. This track comprises two spaced parallel rails 1 and two cross ties each of which includes two identical building blocks 5, 6 coupled to each other endto-end and preferably consisting of wear-resistant tough synthetic plastic material. Each cross tie extends transversely between the webs 2 of the two rails 1 and comprises male coupling members which extend through and beyond the openings 4. Each block 5 or 6 has four faces which are provided with longitudinally extending grooves -12 whose width increases in a direction inwardly from the respective face (see FIG. 4). The dimensions of the heads 3, 3' are such that each thereof may be slidably received in one of the grooves 12 in a manner as shown in FIG. 4. Thus, the width of that portion of each groove 12 which is immediately adjacent to the respective face of the block 5 or 6 is less than the maximum width of a head 3 or 3 so that such head cannot be withdrawn in a direction away from the respective face. In FIG. 4, the rail 1 is slidable in directions at right angles to the plane of the drawing but it cannot be separated from the block 6 by moving upwardly or by moving the block downwardly.

Each block 5 or 6 is further provided with a fifth face which has a transversely extending groove 12a (shown in FIG. 9) and a sixth face having a projection 7 which constitutes a male coupling member. Each coupling member 7 has a first portion 7a (see FIG. 3) which is slidable in the central portion of a groove 12 and a second portion 712 which constitutes a neck and connects the first portion 7a with the sixth face of the respective block. The fifth and sixth faces of each block 5 and 6 are located opposite each other so that the coupling member 7 of the block 5 can be received in the groove 12a of the fifth face on the block 6, or vice versa. The manner in which the blocks 5, 6 shown in FIG. 2 can be coupled to each other is disclosed in several of my copending applications to which reference may be had if necessary.

The coupling members 7 of the blocks 5 extend through the openings 4 of the left-hand rail 1 and the coupling members 7 of the blocks 6 extend through the openings 4 of the right-hand rail 1 shown in FIG. 2. The first portion 7a of each coupling member 7 can be introduced through the wider first section 4a of an opening 4 but the narrower second section .b of such opening can receive only the second portion 711. Thus, by introducing the first portion 7a through the section 4a and by thereupon shifting the web 2 with reference to the coupling member 7, or vice versa, the person assembling the track can rapidly couple the rail 1 to the block 5 or 6. The width y is preferably such that the narrower second second section 4b receives the portion 7b with minimal clearance to prevent accidental separation.

When the track including two rails 1 or two rows of such rails and a requisite number of cross ties is put to actual use in a manner as shown in FIG. 3, the lower heads 3' of the rails can rest on the floor or on another suitable support and the convex top faces 3a of the upper heads 3 support the wheels 8 of toy railroad cars. Pairs of such wheels 8 are mounted on common axles 9. The track may be suspended from the ceiling or from another suitable support (not shown) so that the convex faces 3a of its lower heads 3 can guide wheels 10 mounted in pairs on the axles 11 of a suspended train or a trolley. Furthermore, the track may be mounted at a level above the floor and the axles 9 can be connected with the axles 11 so that each of the rails 1 can guide two sets of wheels 8, 10.

FIG. 4 shows that the rails 1 can be used as monorails, for example, to guide the cages of toy elevators or the like. One of the heads 3, 3' is inserted into one groove 12 of a block 5 or 6 or into the grooves of a series of aligned blocks, and the other head is ready to guide the wheel or wheels of a cage, monorail train, or a like toy device. As stated before, each head can be fitted into a groove 12 in such a way that it has a preferably tight Sliding fit therein and that it cannot be withdrawn by moving the block 6 away from the head at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the rail.

Referring to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the track may be assembled of arcuate rails 13 whereby the distance between the openings 4 (not shown) in the outer rail 13 exceeds the distance between the openings in the inner rail 13. The cross ties consisting of blocks 5, 6 then extend substantially radially with reference to the common center of curvature of the rails 13. The rails 1 or 13 may be flexible, i.e., the arcuate track of FIG. 5 can be obtained by suitable deformation of two normally straight rails 13.

Another mode of utilizing the rails 1 or 13 is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. The upper head 3 of the rail 1 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is received in an overhead support including one or more blocks (one such block 6 is indicated by broken lines). The lateral faces 3b, 3c of the lower head support and guide two wheels or rollers 14 mounted on shafts 15 and disposed at the opposite sides of the web 2. The shafts 15 have flexible outer portions which are connected with similar shafts constituting male coupling members which are received in the grooves 17 of two elongated upper blocks 16. Such upper blocks 16 are coupled with lower blocks 16 which extend transversely of the rail 1 so that the structure which carries the wheels 14 resembles a U-shaped body which can travel along the lower head of the rail 1. The connections between the blocks 16 are sufficiently rigidly to prevent movement of wheels 14 away from each other, i.e., such wheels are compelled to track the lateral faces 3]), 30. It is clear that each of the shafts 15 may be rigid with the respective coupling member or that such parts may constitute a single L-shaped component which can carry a wheel 14 and is adapted to be coupled to a block 16.

FIG. 8 illustrates two slightly modified rails 18, 18' whose openings 20, 20' have centrally located wider sections 20b, 20b and pairs of narrower sections 20a, 20c

and 20a, 200'. The width of the sections 20b, 20b is x and the width of the remaining sections is y. The manner in which pairs of rails 18, 18 and 18', 18 may be connected end-to-end is illustrated in FIG. 9. The blocks 50, 60 and 50', 60 respectively constitute cross ties between the left-hand and right-hand pairs of rails 18, 18". The manner in which the coupling members 72, 72' and 71, 71' of such cross ties are connected with the webs 19, 19 of the rails 18, 18' is the same as described herebefore in connection with rails 1 and blocks 5, 6. The coupling members 72, 72 are shifted into the sections 20a, 20a of openings 20, 20 in the left-hand rails 18, 18 and the coupling members 71, 71' are shifted into the sections 20c, 20c of openings 20, 20 in the right-hand rails 18, 18'. In the next step, a longitudinally extending stiifener including blocks 51, 61 is inserted between and is coupled to the two cross ties to prevent the coupling members 71-72 from leaving the respective narrower sections of the openings 20, 20'. The blocks 51, 61 have coupling members 73, 73' which are respectively received in grooves 121, 122 of the blocks 50', 60' and 50, 60. Each of these grooves has a wider portion (indicated at 121a 122a) to permit insertion of the respective coupling mem ber (73, 73).

The track of FIG. 9 includes means (51, 61, 73, 73) for holding the left-hand pair of rails 18, 18" against movement toward and away from the right-hand pair of rails 18, 18 and cross ties (50, 60, 50', 60, 71, 71', 72, 72) for holding the upper rails 18, 18' against movement toward or away from the lower rails 18, 18'. The stiffener including the blocks 51, 61 can take up sufficient tensile stresses to prevent separation of rails when the track is in actual use in connection with toy trains or the like.

Since the openings 20, 20' of the rails 18, 18' comprise pairs of narrower sections (20a, 200 or 20a, 20c), each of these rails can be coupled with additional blocks, such as the block 6 which is shown in the upper part of FIG. 9. The coupling member of this block 6 is introduced into the central section 20b in the opening 20 of the rail 18 and is then shifted in a direction to the left in order to move its narrower second portion or neck into the section 20a. Each of the sections 20a, 20a, 20c, 200' may be long enough to receive two or more coupling members.

If the track of my invention is utilized in connection with electric toy trains or other electrically operated railmounted conveyances (such as overhead trolleys, elevators, bucket type conveyors and others), it preferably comprises rails 21 of the type shown in FIGS. and 11. This rail 21 has a plate-like separator 22 which consists of insulating material and is located in the central symmetry plane of the rail to separate two current-conducting portions 23, 24. The parts 22-24 are connected to each other by rivets 25 or analogous fasteners which consist of insulating material or are provided with insulating sleeves to prevent flow of current between the outer portions 23, 24. The central portion of the separator plate 22 constitutes the central layer or lamination of the web of the rail 21 and the openings 26 of the web extend through each of the three layers or laminations. Each such opening 26 has two narrower sections 26a, 260 which communicate with a centrally located wider section 26b.

It is clear that the rail 21 may be modified in a number of ways without departing from the spirit of my invention. For example, the separator 22 may constitute the entire web of this rail and its marginal portions then separate from each other the current-conducting metallic outer portions of the two heads. The cross-sectional area of each head on the rail 21 is identical with the cross-sectional area of a rail 1, 13, 18 or 18 so that such heads can be introduced into the grooves 12 of blocks 5, 6 or other blocks which were described in connection with the preceding illustrations. The portion 23, 24 of the rail 21 may be used to conduct current to the electric motors of toy locomotives as well as to serve as conductors in the circuits of light bulbs which are utilized in the signal system of a toy train or the like.

FIG. 12 illustrates one mode of utilizing the rail 21 of FIGS. 10 and 11. This rail is used as a third rail or live rail and is installed between rails 18, 18" whereby the heads of the rails 18, 18" actually support the wheels of a toy conveyance. The cross ties are constituted by blocks 52, 52 which connect the rail 18 with the rail 21, and by blocks 53, 53 which connect the rail 21 with the rail 18". Stitfeners in the form of additional blocks 54, 54" are inserted between the cross ties 52, 52 and 53, 53 to prevent movements of aligned sections of rails 18, 21 and 18" away from each other. The coupling members of the cross ties are shown at 74, 74', 75, 75'. The coupling members 76, 76' of the stiffener blocks 54, 54' are received in the grooves 123, 124 of the adjoining cross ties.

FIG. 13 shows a further mode of utilizing the track of my invention. The rails 18, 18 are coupled to each other by cross ties in the same way as described in connection with FIG. 9. Elongated blocks 16 are assembled with one or more shorter blocks 5' to form an overhead support which overlies and extends across the rails 18, 18'. The downwardly open groove 27 of the uppermost block 16 receives a carrier 28 of insulating material for two wire-like conductors 29 which are held midway between the rails 18, 18' so that the wiper of an electric locomotive can receive current from a source which is connected to the terminals of such conductor wires. The lowermost block 16 is preferably coupled to the web of the left-hand rail 18.

Referring finally to FIG. 14, there is shown a switch 30 which permits transfer of toy vehicles from a main track including the rails 34, 34', 35, 35' onto a side track including the rails 36, 36'. The switch rails are shown at 31, 31' and the switch rails are preferably flexible. The tie rods which connect the switch rails 31, 31' to each other are constituted by blocks 55, which are coupled thereto in the same way as described for the cross ties 5, 6 of FIG. 2. The grooves of the blocks 55, 65 are shown at 12, 12 and the numerals 77, 77' denote the coupling members which extend into and through the openings of the switch rails 31, 31'. A centrally located groove of the tie rod including the blocks 55, 65 receives the coupling member 78 of a pivot 33 which is rockable about a fixed vertical axis to move the upper portions of the switch rails 31, 31' into and from registry with the rails 34, 34. In FIG. 14, the switch 30 is set for turnout so that a vehicle travelling downwardly along the rails 34, 34 is compelled to move onto the rails 36, 36. The so-called switch stand includes a block 16 which is coupled to the switch rail 31 by a pivot 136.

The stationary part of the pivot 33 has a coupling member 78 which is received in a groove of the cross tie including blocks 55', 65' between the rails 36, 36.

The connection between the rails 34, 34 and 35, 35 is identical with the connection shown in FIG. 9. By exerting a pull on the block 16, the operator can move the upper ends of switch rails 31, 31' away from registry with the rails 34, 34' whereby the rails 31, 31 and their tie rod or tie rods 55, 65 turn about the axis of the pivot 33 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 14. Of course, the parts 16', 136 may be omitted if the operator wishes to pivot the switch rails 31, 31 by hand.

The switch 30 preferably includes one or more connector assemblies which prevent relative movement between the rails of the main line track and the rails of the side track. One such connector assembly is shown by solid lines and includes blocks 5, 16 and 37, the latter being of substantially triangular cross-sectional outline to fit between the block 16 and the rail 36'. Coupling members 79 connect the block 16 with the blocks 5 and 37, and the latter has a coupling member 79 which extends through the adjoining opening of the rail 36'.

A modified connector assembly is indicated by broken lines and includes three blocks 16, a triangular block 36 which is inserted between two blocks 16, and a block which connects the third block 16 to the web of the rail 35. Any desired number of blocks may be coupled together to provide a satisfactory connector assembly. Also, the two connector assemblies of FIG. 14 may be used together to further enhance the rigidity of the tracks.

The track of my invention may be provided with crossings and electrically operated switch stands. In such instances, one rail of each track may be constructed in a manner as described in connection with FIGS. 10 and 11 or each track may comprise a third rail which is mounted in a manner as illustrated in FIG. 12.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features which fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic and specific aspects of my contribution to the art.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A track for toy railways or the like, comprising a pair of spaced rails each including an elongated web and at least one head projecting transversely of the web and extending along the edge thereof, said webs being provided with openings which are spaced from one another longitudinally of the respective rail and which each comprise a first section having transversely of the respective web a predetermined width, and a second section having a width smaller than said predetermined width; and cross ties arranged transversely between and connecting said webs to each other, said cross ties comprising blocks provided with male coupling members extending through the openings in said webs and each having a first portion dimensioned to be receivable only in a respective first section and a second portion connecting the first portion with the respective block and dimensioned to be receivable in the second section associated with the respective first section.

2. A track as defined in claim 1, said blocks having faces provided with grooves whose width increases inwardly from the respective face, and wherein each of said heads is slidably receivable in a groove of one of said blocks, the minimal width of each groove being less than the maximum width of a head.

3. A track as defined in claim 1, wherein the length of each of said sections, as considered in the longitudinal direction of the respective web, exceeds its width.

4. A track as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said openings further comprises a third section whose width at least approximates the width of the second section, said first sections being disposed between the second and third sections of the respective openings.

5. A track as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said heads comprises a pair of lateral faces adjacent to the opposite sides of the respective web and being substantially normal to the plane of such web.

6. A track as defined in claim 5, wherein each of said heads further comprises a convex wheel-supporting face bounding that portion thereof which is remotest from the respective web.

7. A track as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said cross ties comprises a plurality of abutting blocks including first and second blocks each adjacent to one of said webs, each of said first and second blocks comprising a coupling member whose second and first portions are respectively received in and extend beyond the open-' ings of adjoining webs.

8. A track as defined in claim 1, further comprising stiffener means disposed between said webs and having two ends each coupled to one of said cross ties.

9. A track as defined in claim 1, wherein each head of at least one of said rails comprises two current-conducting portions disposed at the opposite sides of the central plane of the respective web, and a separator of insulating material disposed between such current-conducting portions.

10. A track as defined in claim 9, wherein the web of said one rail includes a central layer which is integral with the separators of the respective heads and two outer layers each of which is integral with one current-conducting portion of each head.

11. A track as defined in claim 9, wherein the cross sections of heads on said one rail are identical with the cross sections of heads on the other rail.

12. A track as defined in claim 9, further comprising fastener means consisting at least in part of insulating material and connecting said current-conducting portions with said separators.

13. A track as defined in claim 1, further comprising additional blocks coupled to each other and constituting at least one support a portion of which is spaced from and extends across said rails, carrier means received in a groove of said support portion, and electrical conductor means supported by said carrier means and extending in substantial parallelism with said rails.

14. A track as defined in claim 1, wherein said rails consist of flexible material.

15. A track as defined in claim 14, wherein said rails are of arcuate shape and have a common center of curvature, said cross ties extending substantially radially between said rails.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,252,392 1/1918 Bull 238252 1,281,451 10/1918 Whitcraft 238-1O 1,949,720 3/1934 Kelley 238l0 2,539,078 1/1951 Henderson 238-10 3,263,364 8/1966 Lindstrorn 238l0 FOREIGN PATENTS 879,072 6/1953 Germany.

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner RICHARD A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner 

